‘Serving with heart’: two glimpses of innovation in Singapore and Thailand

Probably a first for this Editor is news from Singapore on the healthcare technology and innovation front. The first report comes from Todaywhere Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean advocates for the interesting combination of embracing innovation and ‘serving patients with heart.’ Speaking at the opening of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine’s Clinical Sciences Building in Novena, Mr. Teo talked not only about pathogens and biomedical research but also about remote patient monitoring, tele-consulting, and home-care robots.

From Thailand but addressing the Asia-Pacific market is Caroline Clarke, CEO for Philips Asean Pacific, on the region’s aging population and the outlook to 2050. Asia is home to 60 percent of the world’s over-60 population which is expected to grow from 547 million in 2016 to nearly 1.3 billion by 2050. She noted that the Future Health Index noted that while the benefits of connected care technologies were known in Asia, there was a lack of understanding on how and why to use them to take better care of their health. Philips has opened a regional headquarters in Singapore with advanced innovation facilities, announcing a partnership with EDBI to co-invest in regional digital health companies. The Nation

Our definitions

Telehealth and Telecare Aware posts pointers to a broad range of news items. Authors of those items often use terms 'telecare' and telehealth' in inventive and idiosyncratic ways. Telecare Aware's editors can generally live with that variation. However, when we use these terms we usually mean:

• Telecare: from simple personal alarms (AKA pendant/panic/medical/social alarms, PERS, and so on) through to smart homes that focus on alerts for risk including, for example: falls; smoke; changes in daily activity patterns and 'wandering'. Telecare may also be used to confirm that someone is safe and to prompt them to take medication. The alert generates an appropriate response to the situation allowing someone to live more independently and confidently in their own home for longer.

• Telehealth: as in remote vital signs monitoring. Vital signs of patients with long term conditions are measured daily by devices at home and the data sent to a monitoring centre for response by a nurse or doctor if they fall outside predetermined norms. Telehealth has been shown to replace routine trips for check-ups; to speed interventions when health deteriorates, and to reduce stress by educating patients about their condition.

Telecare Aware's editors concentrate on what we perceive to be significant events and technological and other developments in telecare and telehealth. We make no apology for being independent and opinionated or for trying to be interesting rather than comprehensive.